The present invention relates to digital video recorders, and more specifically to replacing recorded programs with different versions based on criteria specified by a user.
A digital video recorder (DVR) or personal video recorder (PVR) is a device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive or other medium. The term includes stand-alone set-top boxes and software for personal computers which enables video capture and playback to and from disk.
Air television broadcasts are moving to an all high-definition (HD) format, and cable and satellite maintain a dual system of channels that includes standard-definition (SD) and high-definition (HD) formats. Most channels are available in both standard-definition and high-definition formats. Currently, if a user records a show or a series of shows for a channel, and the channel chosen is an SD channel, then the show is recorded in SD. If the channel chosen is an HD channel, then the program is recorded in HD. If a user mistakenly selects an SD channel when an HD channel was intended; when a user can only find an SD version of a program in the program guide; or when if a DVR is running out of space due to the number of HD programs recorded, there is no automatic solution to switch between the different formats. Instead, the user has to manually delete programs or manually store and locate different versions of a program.